Saturday, September 12, 2009

Pork Tenderloin and Pork Chops

We've been eating a lot more pork lately, and I've found many recipes that are great. I am going to share 2 that I make over and over because they are delicious. I buy tenderloins in bulk from Sam's Club. Having a big freezer in the garage is wonderful for bulk shopping and saves us a lot of money.

The first recipe is one that my friend Holly and her husband created and won first or second place at the NC state fair. I can't remember exactly because it was probably 8 or 9 years ago. They called it Oriental, but to me it tastes Polynesian, which is somewhat similar. I will make the disclaimer that the recipe says to boil the marinade, which we have done many times, but technically you're not supposed to reuse a marinade over again- you're supposed to trash it because of e-coli or one of those other yucky diseases. You make the choice.

Combine first 6 ingredients & juice from pineapple (reserve pineapple for later). Set aside. Cut slits into the sides of the chops to form pockets. Marinate chops for 1 hour or overnight. Stuff each chop with 1 Tbsp pineapple. Reserve marinade. Preheat grill & cook pork chops over med-high heat 10-15 minutes on each side until done. Add remaining pineapple to marinade & boil for 3 minutes. Serve over chops._______________

The next recipe is really just something I did based on a Pampered Chef idea. I used the Deep Covered Baker (a must have) to cook a tenderloin. I threw in some other things, cooked some brown rice and made the marinade above as a sauce to compliment. The jerk seasoning can be found in the McCormick section of the grocery store, or Pampered Chef also sells it.

In a microwave safe baker (that has a lid), pour 1-2Tbsp olive oil and spread around the bottom. Slice up the pepper and onion and spread across the bottom of the baker. Place the tenderloin on top. Pour 1-2 Tbsp olive oil across the top of the tenderloin and then sprinkle jerk seasoning all over the top of the meat. Cover and cook in microwave on high for 8 minutes. Check center of meat with thermometer. It needs to read 150. If it is not quite to 150, heat for a couple more minutes, then recheck temp. Once you reach 150, cover and let sit in the baker for 10 additional minutes. Then it will be ready to serve!

Again, I served with rice and the "Polynesian" sauce above and some french bread. For the sauce, I mixed everything but the pineapple in a saucepan, brought to a boil until thickened, added the pineapple, stirred and served. This one is easily doubled if you have the deep covered baker, I actually made this recipe doubled this week and shared it with another family, Jeremy and Lindsay, who I think about and pray for daily. They lost their 4 month old son recently. Please pray for them, too.

Hope you enjoy your weekend. It's beautiful outside here, so I hope to spend some time out there this afternoon.

3 comments:

I just got a pork tenderloin from food lion for $5 yesterday. They have them about 50% off right now. I've made the jerk recipe before (after your pampered chef party!). We really liked it. I'm planning on trying Parmesean Pork Tenderloin soon...found the recipe on the "Pork, the other white meat" website.

We spent the ENTIRE DAY outside! Our families came over for Silas' birthday and we built a swingset in the yard. It was lovely---except for the flies!

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Welcome! I'm Kelly. I'm an IT professional by day, as well as a full time happy wife and mom of two. I love to make my house a home. I'm often compared to someone named Martha ;) and that's how this blog began. Please come back again!